School's Out for Summer!!

When I was in college and even after we were married and had Braylee, I was a nanny for a family in Evansville. I loved it. I took them to ballet and swim lessons, preschool/school, ballgames and practices, helped them pick out Halloween costumes and carve pumpkins, took them out to eat and to the movies, helped them with homework and school projects, you name it. Their parents traveled a lot too so I would spend full weeks at a time at their house. It definitely made me excited about being a mommy and I cherish the memories I made with those three kiddos. :) It's hard to believe but their oldest girl graduated from high school this week! On Sunday, we went down to congratulate her and wish her well on her new adventures in Texas.

With the graduate, Taylor

With Taylor and her little sister Tanner.

After a busy weekend, the girls enjoyed playing on the slip-n-slide in the backyard. I am so thankful for grass this year!

Tuesday, Brynna and I had lunch with Braylee at school. Lillie got to sit with us too!
Leila found a snapping turtle in the yard. Brynna thought it was pretty cool too.

As soon as Braylee jumped off the bus, she was asking to get the sprinkler out!

Yesterday, my niece Emilee graduated from 8th grade. Today, Braylee finished her last day of Kindergarten. Please...how can we find a way to make time stand still!!?

Brynna with Emilee and Coen

From her 1st day of Kindergarten to her last...

We are ready to enjoy another fun summer!!

DTC!!

We've had a busy and exciting couple of weeks! On May 11th, the girls and I went to Evansville for some shopping. The girls decided they wanted to make their new sister a panda at Build-a-Bear. They named her Ladybug.
That evening, as we were pulling into church, Braylee said, "Mom, I should have invited Elle to come." To her surprise, Sydney had invited Elle AND Chloe! She was so excited.

Elle, Sydney, Braylee, & Chloe

Thursday, my sister Trista came to spend the night since she was attending the Journey (Walk to Emmaus) that weekend. It was such a blessing to have her in town and know she was being loved on all weekend! Before she left, Brynna made her some cupcakes. I'm sure you can tell what her favorite part was. :)

I framed the picture Braylee made me for Mother's Day. I think it's so cute and love that she did it all by herself. I hung it in their playroom.
On May 18th, Alex and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary! We love taking trips on our anniversary but we haven't the last two years...with building our house last year and our adoption this year. We still wanted a little get away though so we went to St. Louis. Wednesday evening, we had dinner and saw Jersey Boys at the Fox Theater. Thursday, we cheered on the Cardinals...it was a little rainy but we managed to stay dry and enjoy the game. I definitely married the right one for me. :)
Today was the girls' dance recital! I loved watching them up on stage! Brynna even had a special little part...which she says was actually her favorite part of the whole day! When one of the older girls was doing a solo ballet, Brynna and another little girl tiptoed across the front of the stage tossing glitter. She loved feeling like a fairy! :)

With Alex's parents

And my mom and niece

I'm sure people often wonder how Alex manages with all of the estrogen in our house. :) He does have fun doing non-princess/dance/fancy stuff with the girls too...like helping Braylee with softball.

And teaching the girls basketball plays. :) Alex has taught them that the "x with a circle around it" is the person with the ball. At the bottom of the board, I heard Brynna say as she was drawing, "This person gives it to him and then he goes to the goal and scores!" Too funny. She did a pretty good job drawing it out.
And perhaps our most exciting news of all!! We are officially DTC!! Alex and I dropped off all of these fancy documents at the adoption agency on our way to St. Louis. It was such a relief to have them out of our hands! We were excited to hear they were sent out the very next day! Now we wait... but I am not so good at this "waiting" thing. I found a book at the Bible bookstore Friday called "Sacred Waiting" so I'm hoping it helps me during this time.

Of course I look at this stack and feel the "paper pregnancy" but I'm sure it just looks like a bunch of papers to everyone else. (We ended up switching a few pictures before turning it in.)

This is the authentication seal on the back of all of the documents. It was the last step before we could send them to China.

Brynna's First Recital (and lots of other stuff)

Friday night, the girls had rehearsal for their dance recital. (It's the fundraiser one, not the "official" recital.) We had to leave early so we could go see Bridgette at Grand March!! Braylee had to change into something purple so she could match Bridgette. :) Bridgette is Alex's cousin and had just turned 4 when I met her all those years ago. She was such a little cutie and we bonded instantly. It has been so fun watching her mature into this beautiful young lady. We just love her to pieces!!

The girls were so excited to see her. Doesn't she look gorgeous?!

Saturday morning was dreary and chilly, but it wasn't raining! This meant Braylee could finally play softball! They actually did ok considering it has been too wet to practice.
Sunday, the girls helped Daddy make breakfast. They gave me several cute cards and pictures they made, including a painting Braylee did at school that I want to frame for their play room. I am so, so thankful for my girls. I prayed for our other little girl too, somewhere on the other side of the world...waiting for her mommy to come get her.

Every day, I talk to my girls about Jesus and how He wants us to live...and every day, they teach me how to live a little more like Jesus.

After lunch, the girls put on their fancy outfits and got ready for the recital! Brynna LOVED it!
Braylee with some of her friends, waiting backstage.

Monday, Brynna went with me to the Secretary of State's office to (finally!) finish sealing all of our dossier documents. She was typical, sweet Brynna. She never complained during the 4 hour trip. She was quiet in the office while we waited. She brought her friend "Catherine" along. Can you see Catherine in the pictures? :) Evidently, the situation I ran into at the Sec. of State's office 2 weeks ago isn't unusual, as there was another couple in front of me Monday who were faced with the same problem. :(
I was relieved to have another step of our process done. On Tuesday morning, our complete dossier was delivered to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago for authentication! This should take about a week. Then I will make multiple copies of everything and deliver them to our agency. Once they have thoroughly reviewed all of the documents and pictures, they will send our dossier to China! They only send them out on Fridays, so it looks like we will be DTC either May 20th or 27th.

Braylee & Lillie at their spring program last night

Remember in my last post, I said how thankful I am for my wonderful friends?! Well...look what my dear friend Krista gave me on Mother's Day! It says "Mama" in Chinese! It was so sweet of her! I wore it proudly the rest of the day. :)

This is a little random... When I was little, I was told I looked like my great-grandma Mae. She was my Gramps' mom. Most everyone I know tells me that Braylee looks just like me... well, I think the genes stem from my great-grandma Mae. What do you think?! :) I can't believe how much this looks like my Braylee.
Two years ago today, my Gramps went to heaven. I read a book on Saturday that gives me renewed hope that not only will I see my Gramps in heaven, but I will recognize him and know him!! Thank you, Jesus!

Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday, the girls found their baskets waiting for them. They loved all of their new goodies...backpacks, books, movies, nail polish, Minnie Mouse necklaces, and puzzles. Then they had a little egg hunt in the living room. After finding all of the eggs the Easter Bunny had hid, they asked Daddy to re-hide them so they could hunt again. On their next search, Braylee announced, "Wow, Daddy hides them a lot better that the Easter Bunny!" ;)

Brynna with her one of her best buddies, Emma, before Sunday School

Braylee's Sunday School class

Love this picture! My girls just love these girls sooo much!

For our adoption paperwork, I've had to send a couple of family photos in already but for our dossier, I needed a couple of specific ones... a horizontal, full length picture of Alex and I and also one with the girls. These may just work. What do you think?
We saw Braylee's preschool teacher the other day. When she asked Brynna if she was coming to preschool in the fall, Brynna said, "Well, I have to get my backpack first!" She was a pretty happy girl when she saw the Easter Bunny had brought the very one she wanted! When I asked her how he knew which one, she said, "I bet he asked Santa and he told him." :)

I may just have the greatest friends ever. All of my friends have been so excited for our adoption and tell us frequently they are praying for us. With the mix up with our paperwork last week and then another hiccup in trying to get the new documents this week, I guess my friends knew I could use a little encouragement. Friday when we came home, we found this awesome basket of goodies from Abbie with gardening supplies inside to help us pass the time during our long wait.

And then today, Mandy brought these pretty tulips to me at work.

I definitely appreciate their lovely gifts but it was the special messages they wrote in the cards that made me want to cry. I've said it lots of time on my blog, but I seriously do have the most precious friends and I thank God for them daily!!


So about this paperwork...my goal has always been to be DTC (dossier to China) by the end of April so we could be eligible for matching from the May list (that comes out at the end of the month). I was ok with the fact that we wouldn't be DTC until May 6th, then we had that situation last week, which meant it would be May 13th. Then yesterday, I found out more bad news and the government offices were closed today for election day so I couldn't contact anyone. Needless to say, I felt God telling me LOUD and CLEAR that our paperwork isn't meant to arrive in China before the May list! :) So we are PRAYING all goes well next week and we can be DTC by May 20th...which will be plenty of time before the June list comes out!